TI aligns with pair of CableHome software developers

The stars seem to be aligning in the CableHome world, as residential gateway silicon and software developers are joining forces in advance of what should prove to be a slew of interoperable and network manageable home gateways hitting the market some time next year.

DOCSIS chip vendor Texas Instruments announced similar relationships with two leading residential gateway software package developers—Ashley Laurent and Jungo Software Technologies—which provide residential gateway software platforms based on CableLabs' specification for home networking gear. Both companies will design versions of their respective CableHome-based software platforms to support Texas Instruments' advanced broadband reference designs.

Ashley Laurent will tailor its BroadWay 2.0 CableHome-based software platform to TI's DOCSIS design, adding an integrated system of networking and security modules. Some of those components include stateful firewall, IPSec VPN, content filtering and advanced routing protocols. Broadway 2.0 also adds a managed service fulfillment piece so operators can potentially transition to service bundles and tiered subscriber support.

This is Ashley Laurent's second major agreement with a leading chipset reference design developer in as many weeks. Last week, it announced a similar relationship with communications semiconductor company Conexant to integrate BroadWay 2.0 with the silicon maker's DOCSIS 1.1 and 2.0 cable modem chips.

Jungo announced a similar integration agreement with TI, whereby Jungo's CableHome-based OpenRG residential gateway software will be integrated with TI's cable modem/wireless LAN residential gateway design. That solution is available today following integration testing between the TI chipset and Jungo's OpenRG software platform.

Jungo has been intimately tied to the CableHome effort thus far, helping develop the current CableHome 1.0 specification. Jungo also is participating in the development of the forthcoming CableHome 2.0 specification, which adds AudioVisual application support. Jungo also chairs the CableHome 2.0 security focus group.

This is the second major chip vendor agreement for Jungo, as well. In addition to TI, Jungo also has joined forces with chipmaker Conexant, for development of a home networking reference design based on the HomePlug powerline networking transmission protocol.

For TI, the agreements allow OEM manufacturers utilizing TI chipsets to widen their software platform choices. Today, both the Jungo and Ashley Laurent platforms support the CableHome 1.0 specification. However, the differences between the two solutions should be more pronounced as more advanced features are added to the development equation down the road, according to Dennis Rauschmayer, director of marketing for TI's cable broadband communications group.

"From a CableHome point of view, whenever you talk about a standardized product, I think it's always healthy to have a choice. It stimulates competition, and I think that we've picked best-of-breed partners here with Jungo and Ashley Laurent," Rauschmayer added.

The stars seem to be aligning in the CableHome world, as residential gateway silicon and software developers are joining forces in advance of what should prove to be a slew of interoperable and network manageable home gateways hitting the market some time next year. DOCSIS chip vendor Texas Instruments announced similar relationships with two leading residential gateway software package develop...